uSwitch Mobiles

EE launches ‘UK’s most affordable’ 4G smartphone contracts

EE has fired a fresh salvo at rivals in the nascent UK 4G market with the launch of what it claims are the UK’s most keenly priced 4G pay monthly contracts.

From today, EE’s cheapest pay monthly deal starts at £18.99 per month with a maximum £44.99 upfront outlay for the handset.

That gets you monthly allowances of 1,000 minutes and 500MB of data, as well as unlimited texts and membership of 2 for 1 cinema ticket scheme, EE Film – aka Orange Wednesdays, but rebranded.

What you don’t get, though, is free access to Deezer – the Spotify-alike mobile music streaming service – that has come as standard with every EE pay monthly 4G plan until now.

This, or the EE Games and EE Mobile add-ons depending on which you choose, is solely on offer when you sign up to an EE 4G plan at £23.99 per month or above.

EE revamp of its offering also affects its top-of-the-range plans. Now re-branded 4GEE Extra, these start at £26.99 per month and, alongside more generous monthly allowances, feature all the add-ons detailed above plus roaming to select countries at no extra charge.

Oliver Folkard, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said: “Pay monthly customers will now be able to enjoy the cheapest 4G plans on EE. By now offering an entry level deal at £18.99 a month, EE is enabling those previously priced out join the 4G revolution.

“Its £23.99 deal also undercuts the competition and offers good value for money. However, the trade-off seems to be the loss of some perks - something all networks have used to convince consumers to make the leap to 4G.”

EE has also introduced pay as you go 4G across its range of smartphones, alongside a set of 30-day bundles of data or texts and minutes, both of which start at £3.

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